The present invention relates to depilatory devices which remove body hair, and are used for cosmetic purposes.
A number of depilatory devices have been proposed in the past. Some devices include discs arranged to provide gaps of wedge-like configurations for catching and plucking the hair; a device of this type is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,900,661. Other devices include helical springs which define hair-catching gaps between their windings; examples of the latter are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,232,617, 4,079,741 and 4,524,772, the first two being axial helical springs, and the latter being an arcuate spring, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,375 describing a rotable rubber or plastic slit cylinder catching the hair between the slits and pulling the hair off when rotating around its axis. It is an object of this invention to provide a depilatory device which uses neither discs nor helical springs but defines the hair-catching gaps in another manner producing several advantages over the prior art as shall be defined below.
According to the present invention, there is provided a depilatory device, comprising a manually grippable casing, having an electric motor; and an electric switch carried on said casing for energizing or de-energizing said motor. A motor base hair plucking body rotatably mounted onto said casing is also included and has an exposed section plate, having a plurality of extended rotatable pins mounted into slide bearings on the circumference of the said exposed plate. A belt, rotatable by said motor's central shaft runs around said extended rotatable pins continuously upon start-up of the motor, so that when the device is placed in touch with body hair, said hair will be caught in gaps between said extended pins and said rotatable belt, clamping the hair towards the rotation of said pins and belt, thus pulling the said hair out.
A substantial difference in construction of the depilatory device of the present invention, versus the devices described in the known prior art, is that the present exposed section in touch with a user's skin is not made of metal, but of a rubber or elastomeric belt running continuously around the pins.
Another important advantage of the device is that it plucks hair in all directions simultaneously, whereas the devices in the prior art are all operating unilaterally.
A further important advantage of the present device is that it pulls the hair parallel to the skin, and from tests carried out comparing the function of the present device to the prior art units, it was found that this feature greatly reduces pain during the depilatory process.
A further advantage of the device, is its compact form enabling use of a smaller casing than would be required for the devices described in the prior art.
In the preferred embodiment, the motor installed in the device is of 10-watt, direct current, with 5,000-10,000 RPM, energized by either disposable or rechargeable 9-volt batteries, or any other suitable power supply.
The preferred embodiment has a casing made of ABS or similar plastic. Said belt rotating around the pins is made of rubber, or any suitable elastomeric or plastic flexible material; the belt could be either flat or cylindrical 3-5mm wide. The structure of said belt can be either flat, circular, trapeze, or a combination of flat or circular. In order to achieve an improved friction factor between the belt and the hair to be plucked, one could roughen the outer surface of the belt, or introduce small teeth-like projections, so that when the belt comes into contact with the hair, it will be caught by the belt and pulled towards said pins to be plucked.
In the preferred embodiment, the exposed section to the user's body is a plate made of either steel or rigid plastic, or elastomer 3-10mm thick, having slide bearing bores on its circumference in a T form or any other suitable form. The number of pins in said exposed section could be any acceptable number between a minimum of 2 to 30 (or more).
The pins are 5-8mm high, 2-4mm in diameter and rotate freely in the slide bearing bores, on the exposed section. The pins could be made of any rigid tough material such as steel, rubber or plastic. The pins' extensions out of the exposed section would be in the range of 3-5mm in line with the width of the belt.
In the preferred embodiments, the combination of the pins and belt can be as follows:
either two pins and the belt running between them; PA0 or three pins and the belt running on the outer surface forming a triangle. This structure was found to be efficient for long hair; PA0 or a plurality of pins in a circle with the belt running on the outer circumference; PA0 or a plurality of pins placed on an inner circle, and another plurality of pins on an outer circle with the belt running alternatively between an outer pin and an inner pin; PA0 or a plurality of pins with a belt running around the pins and crossing its pathway, thus increasing the pulling effect on the hair; PA0 or a depilatory device wherein said device has a plurality of pairs of pins, having a belt run between said pins, and wherein each of said pairs is rotated by the driving pin connected to said rotatable central shaft; and having a third free moving rotatable pin attached to said driving pin, having said belt pass between them, so that any hair caught by the belt in the vicinity of said two attached pins will be pulled out by the rotational movement of the pins, and running belt; PA0 or a device having instead of a pair of pins, a triangular pin configuration with attached rotatable pins close to any required number of pins in the triangle; so that each triangular head having said two pins with said belt running between them can act as a depilating unit.
These last two devices are particularly useful for depilating short hair, or depilating hair having being previously treated with oil or cream.
In a further embodiment, said motor runs a central shaft having a gear wheel mounted on it; and said gear wheel rotates, by the aid of a plurality of gear wheels engaged to said first gear on the central shaft, a plurality of auxiliary shafts which rotate several of said pins around which rotate said belt. This mechanism gives a better distribution of power to said pins and belt rotation.
In another preferred embodiment, the plucking head including said pins and belt can be dismounted from the body of the main device; by having a cassette-like arrangement containing the pins and belt mounted in a plastic member, having a plurality of shaft connectors all to be mounted and hinged to a plurality of shafts rotated by said central shaft and motor. So that when said plucking head cassette is hinged to said shafts rotated by the motor and the motor is energized by said switch, the plucking process can be commenced when the user's hair is brought into contact with said pins and rotating belt. This device enables the user to dispose of the plucking head after several uses, or wash and clean the plucking head after use of an hair remaining on the surface of said pins or belt. The device can thus be designed to have several combinations of pins and belt as described below for different kinds of hair, or different lengths of hair.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided a depilatory device for removing body hair comprising a manually grippable casing having an electric motor; and an electric switch carried on said casing for energizing or de-energizing said motor; and a motor base is mounted onto said casing, having an exposed section plate, having a plurality of pins mounted into slide bearings mounted onto the circumference of said exposed plate, and having the said pins secured to a plurality of gear wheels engaging one another, and said pins extend out of said gear wheels; and a belt wound around the pins, so that when the pins turn, the belt runs continuously around the pins; and said electric motor having a shaft secured to a driving gear wheel which is engaged to any of said gear wheels secured to said pins; so that when the motor rotates, the driving wheel engages one of said gear wheels which rotate all other gear wheels, thus rotating the pins and causing said belt to run continuously, so that when the device is placed in touch with the body hair said hair will be caught in the gaps between the extended pins and said rotatable belt, clamping other hair towards the rotation of said pins and belt, thus pulling the hair out.
Further features of the invention can be seen in the description below of the preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings.